Wurtzite ZnO possesses four atoms per unit cell. Thus, there are 12 phonon branches (3 acoustic branches and 9 optical branches). The optical phonons at the Γ-point belong to following irreducible representation,
I(opt)=1A1 +2B2 +1E1 +2B2
The A1 and E1 modes are both Raman and IR active, whereas the E2 mode is only
Raman active. The B1 modes are inactive to both Raman and IR. In the A1 and E1
modes, the atoms oscillate parallel and perpendicular to the c-axis, respectively. The frequencies of optical phonons range from 98 cm−1 to 591 cm−1 at the Γ-point